In fact, if you are compatriots who have crossed over from the future, just by looking at the current roster structure of the Lakers, you will know how effective they are.

Compare this to the Timberwolves in the 17-18 season.

In the 17-18 season, the Timberwolves also had the champion Towns in the team, not only that, but they also had the second champion Andrew in exchange for Love. Wiggins, the main lineup also has Jeff. Teague, Jamal. Crawford and other players.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Timberwolves brought in a very tough man who was underrated by the league this year, Jimmy. Butler!

Under Butler's leadership, the Timberwolves, who have a number of potential stars and look promising, have finally stumbled into the playoffs in eighth place in the West.

By the way, this is the first time the Timberwolves have entered the playoffs since the 03-04 season.

It's funny to say, Garnett, the wolf king who was known to be able to compete with Duncan for the league's number one forward at his peak, failed to lead the team to the playoffs for three consecutive years in the peak years of his career, and his ability to lead the team was touching.

What happened later is also clear to everyone, after only one year in the Timberwolves, Butler asked the management of the Timberwolves and the team to break the defense together, turned around and ran to the 76ers.

The reluctance of management to renew his contract with a maximum salary, and the open attitude of Downs and Wiggins at a young age was really difficult for this tough guy to accept.

It's just that he never expected that after leaving Downs, he met Embiid again.

Both interior players, Towns and Embiid have very similar technical characteristics and even similar personalities, and the 76ers management's attitude towards Butler is just the same as that of the Timberwolves.

It's too wasteful to give a top salary to a veteran who averages only 24 points per game and is over 30 years old, and the 76ers' choice is to give the younger Tobias. Harris has a max salary contract, just as the Timberwolves chose to renew Wiggins' max salary in advance.

It's no wonder that Butler later led the team to take out the 76ers when he was in the Heat, and he still said indignantly, "Don't want Harris to me?"

Although the Lakers don't have Wiggins on their side, Ingram and Wiggins can only be compared even at their peak, as of 2023, one of them has 19.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game in their careers, shooting 46.4%, and the other is 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists, shooting 44.9%.

In terms of assists and shooting percentage, Ingram has a slight advantage, but in the 17-18 season, Ingram, who is only a sophomore, is definitely not as good as Wiggins, who has been in the league for four seasons.

As for Tatum, who is in the first grade, he is even more different from Butler.

The Lakers team formed by these rookies is like a balloon, it looks like it is very powerful, good inside and outside, and has a bright future, but if you poke it with a toothpick, it will explode instantly.

In the G1 game, Wang Chao didn't even exert much strength at all, just Gobert, Mitchell, Murray and Kuzma, these young players, played back and forth with each other.

Coincidentally, the young players on the Nuggets' side are a little bit in line with the Lakers' side.

Inside Gobert can face Downs, Murray and Tatum can match, Kuzma's height is on par with Ingram, although the static talent is slightly inferior in terms of reach, but Kuzma's athleticism is stronger than Ingram, especially in the 17-18 and 18-19 seasons, Kuzma's regular season performance is no worse than Ingram.

The only one who can't match the Lakers' young rookies is Mitchell.

The Lakers have one Julius left. Randle is also an All-Star level player who can contribute an average of 25+10 per game in the future, but he plays as a power forward, and the 1.85-meter-high Mitchell naturally can't form a counterpoint.

However, this is not a one-on-one heads-up, and there is no need for such meticulous research at all.

Having said so much, the meaning to be expressed is actually very simple, the Nuggets are completely letting a Wang Chao, and the main force of the Lakers can only compare with the Nuggets a little, and Wang Chao averaged 35.8 points per game during the regular season, accounting for 32% of the Nuggets' scores, and there is naturally no suspense in this game.

After only three quarters of the game, the Nuggets established a more than 20-point advantage at home, especially in the third quarter of the game, the Nuggets' tentative end in front of them, and they began to get serious, replacing Kuzma for Tucker, and after the defensive intensity suddenly increased, the Lakers ushered in the most nightmare 5 minutes.

For a full 5 minutes, the Lakers couldn't score a single point, whether it was Towns, Ingram or Tatum and others, they couldn't score in the face of the Nuggets' defense.

In the entire third quarter, the Lakers scored only 14 points in total.

The final score of the two teams was 82-106, and the Nuggets won by 24 points at home to win the playoffs.

After the game, the Nuggets didn't even have much interest in talking about the game and the opponent, the difference in LV levels was too much, and the Nuggets head coach was so excited that he even let go of his arrogance in the face of reporters despite the fact that this was just the first game. "We're already thinking about the opponent for the next round."

And listening to such arrogant words, no one thinks it is unreasonable.

After all, the Nuggets are first in the West and first in the league.

Looking at the entire history of the NBA, there are only eight Black Eight Miracles, and this is counting the Heat Black Eight Bucks in the next 22-23 season.

The probability is so low that it doesn't need to be taken into account at all.

Even the Lakers, whose then-head coach was very low-key and humble in an interview with reporters, thought so.

"Our goal in the playoffs is to train and get young players like Towns, Ingram and Tatum to gain experience as quickly as possible, and this playoffs we met the Nuggets, the best defensive team in the league, and their devil's home court, and this series will definitely allow the young players to grow a lot and make them better in the future."

This is equivalent to surrendering the gun early, although there is no rule in the NBA to surrender and lose half.

And what the Lakers head coach said was actually quite boring.

What does it mean to exercise newcomers?

Towns, Ingram and Tatum are newcomers, but Mitchell and Murray are not?

Even Gobert, who joined the league in 13, is now just 26 years old, only 3 years older than Downs, the 15-year champion.

The Lakers are a new army, and the Nuggets are even more, except for Wang Chao, most of the main players are young and promising!

On April 18, the second game of the series, still on the home court of the Nuggets, the Nuggets continued to win two consecutive wins with a score of 116-99, leading 2-0.

After two home games, the two sides will travel to the Lakers' home court, the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Although they returned to their home court to gain home-court advantage, even Lakers fans never thought that their team could win in front of the Nuggets, even if it was unlikely that they would win one game to avoid being swept.

In the course of the home game in Los Angeles, there was also a more interesting episode, that is, when Wang Chao arrived outside the Staples Arena, there were thunderous cheers, and countless fans greeted each other outside the Staples Center, holding up various posters of Wang Chao in their hands.

These fans are certainly not Lakers fans, they are sworn rivals in the same city who share a arena with the Lakers, fans of the Los Angeles Clippers.

These Clippers fans wish the Nuggets were stronger, swept the Fat Lakers 4:0, and then won the championship in one go, so that Wang Chao would have a reason and opportunity to join the Clippers, even if Wang Chao is really so strong, he will win the championship within one to two years after coming to the Clippers and then leave, then it will not be a loss, after all, the Clippers have not had even one championship in team history in the past 50 years!

They really hope that Wang Chao can bring them a championship.

The stark contrast between the avid Clippers fans and the Lakers fans who have no hope of their team's victory, the result is that the atmosphere at the Lakers' home court is not much different from that of the away game, with nearly half of the seats occupied by Clippers fans, cheering loudly every time Wang Chao gets the ball.

It's just that regardless of whether there are off-court factors or not, the difference in strength between the two teams is still too big, and there is no difference between the Lakers' two home courts and when they are away from home, they were all unilaterally pressed and beaten by the Nuggets throughout the whole process, and they won the game in an understatement.

With a total score of 4:0, a group of young players of the Lakers were swept out of the game and went home early to fish.

This result is acceptable to both teams.

The Nuggets swept the Lakers to advance to the second round and continue to challenge for the championship.

Although the Lakers were beaten quite badly, they did accumulate some playoff experience as the head coach said, after all, it is absolutely a valuable experience to play against Wang Chao, the recognized king of the playoffs, in the playoffs.

For the Lakers, winning or losing is only a superficial thing, and the more important strategic value hidden within the Lakers team is the free market this summer!

By the time the summer comes, the Lakers' junk contracts will expire, and the team will have enough salary space to secure a superstar in the league, and Lakers management is confident about it.

They are synonymous with the Lakers, the biggest giant in the league, and the City of Angels in Los Angeles, and the team is not a fish belly team now, with Towns, Ingram and Tatum many potential players, any superstar can be directly parachuted into the team boss, and the team's combat effectiveness will be raised to the top of the league.

The only pity is that there is no name of Wang Chao in their recruitment list, which can't be helped, who let Wang Chao shout the slogan early, only consider the team that has no championship in team history, the Lakers, as the second largest championship team in NBA history after the Celtics, naturally lost the capital to pursue Wang Chao.

——

The Nuggets' opponents in the second round are the fourth and fifth in the West, the winner between the Trail Blazers and the Rockets.

The strength of the Trail Blazers and the Rockets is basically equal, and the Trail Blazers have the main lineup of Lillard, McCollum, Aldridge and Nurkic, and the overall strength is quite strong.

On the other hand, on the Rockets' side, the only main players who can handle it are Leonard and Whiteside.

However, at a playoff level, the role of a top star is often more important than that of a few ordinary stars.

Leonard exemplifies this perfectly.

In the game with the Trail Blazers, Leonard can be described as full of firepower, averaging 33 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, leading the Rockets to defeat the Trail Blazers 4-2, and eliminated the Trail Blazers to enter the second round.

In contrast, although Lillard and McCollum on the Trail Blazers' side have both contributed consistently to an average of 20+ points per game, Aldridge's performance has been average, averaging only 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in six games.

The most disappointing thing for the team is Lillard, who has high hopes.

Lillard, nicknamed the watch man, has undoubted strong scoring explosiveness, even if he is in a different time and space, he has staged many wonderful stunner scenes.

But in his playoff career, he still always ended in failure, even if he broke into the Western Conference finals in the 18-19 season, tying Paul's record for the best playoff record of his career at that time, but after all, there is still a ceiling, and there is no way to compare with a player like Leonard.

It's just that Leonard, who led the team to the second round, is not very comfortable, after all, their opponent in the second round is the Nuggets.

Against the boss of his own team in the past, whether it is Leonard himself or the fans of the Rockets, they don't think that they can pass the mountain of Wang Chao, and the gap in strength is too big!

The first round of games has been over, and the league has also duly announced the All-Star of the 17-18 season.

As in previous years, the list of the best teams will always have a few names that can't be shaken, and there will be some flowing names.

For example, in a while, the names of Wang Chao and James are as stable as Mount Tai, and the thick-eyed brother Anthony. Davis has also been selected for several seasons in a row, and the two players on guard are Curry and Harden.

The five players in the second team are Westbrook, DeRozan, Durant, Leonard and Antetokounmpo.

In the past, when Wang Chao was mainly playing point guard, he would always occupy a list of guards, but now he is back in the forward position, and the result is to squeeze Durant into the second team again.

The competition for the best three is the most fierce, because there are many players who have the quality to be selected for the best team, and these places can only be divided in the fierce competition.

The five players who finally came out of the crowd were Lillard of the Trail Blazers, Irving of the Celtics, Butler of the Spurs, Embiid of the Cavaliers and Cousins of the Warriors.

Every season's All-NBA team is announced, there is a battle of curses, with some fans complaining about their own stars who didn't make the All-Star team.

This time was no exception.

"Why was Embiid selected for the third team? He's just a little guy who follows James, and where is our big Downs worse than Embiid in terms of statistics? And as the core of the house, he led the team into the playoffs, isn't it much better than you? ”

"Howard is 18+12 this season, the core of the Spurs' interior defense, why did he lose to Cousins who is 20+10?"

However, in a bunch of scolding battles, there was surprisingly no controversy about the Nuggets, even as the team with the league's No. 1 record, there was only one All-Star and one All-Star player in the whole season, which is taken for granted by others.

"Isn't that normal? Isn't the Nuggets' No. 1 league the credit of Wang Chao? Yes, players such as Gobert, Mitchell, Murray and Rose did perform well in the regular season, but that's all, based on their performance, is it possible to compete for the best team or something? Is this possible? ”

In another time and space, Gobert and Mitchell were only selected as All-Stars for the first time in 2020, and Murray was only selected as an All-Star once in the 21-22 season, and they were still like this when they were the core of the team, not to mention when they partnered with Wang Chao, a shining superstar, it is estimated that only after Wang Chao left after the Nuggets won the championship, their light will gradually bloom and be recognized by fans. (End of chapter)